


Falling

by KirbyWrites



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Suicide, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 03:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21047483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirbyWrites/pseuds/KirbyWrites
Summary: Raven wants to fall, Robin won't let her.





	Falling

_ Cinderblock was huge- much bigger than how he normally was. His form loomed over her and the rest of the Titans as he roared. Raven filled her hands with magic, Starfire doing the same with her starbolts, and Robin unleashed his staff.  _

_ Cyborg yelled suddenly as he charged, firing missiles into Cinderblock’s rocky body, and Beast Boy transformed into a dinosaur large enough to rival the stone monstrosity in front of them.  _ _ But with one punch, Cinderblock threw the shapeshifter into a wall and used his other arm to block all the missiles their robot teammate had fired. A defiant shout came from Raven's right and she turned to see Starfire pelting the criminal with a barrage of starbolts before she was grabbed and thrown into Beast Boy, who'd just gotten up.  _

_ Realizing she hadn't done anything yet, the empath picked up a few parked cars with her magic and slammed them into him, each one crashing into his head.  _ _ The monster responded with an irate roar, and he stomped the road, sending both Cyborg and Robin flying. With all of her teammates down, Raven glanced around anxiously for anything she could throw at him, but it was an empty street with nothing else around- the cars she had thrown earlier had been the only things there.  _

_ With a grunt, she was thrown backward, her magic preventing her from crashing into the building behind her. The empath growled, her usually-hidden demonic side coming to life, and her magic got a sudden strength boost from her anger.  _

_ The spell she'd planned to use for splitting Cinderblock apart burst out of her, the power gripping the monster and holding it fast.  _

_ She saw Robin stagger to his feet out of the corner of her eye; she'd kill them all with the explosion soon to occur. Terrified, Raven’s power fed on her emotions and spread further to engulf part of the city- luckily, not the part her friends were in. She screamed, and the empath blew Cinderblock- and part of Jump City- to bits, the tops of buildings crashing into the pavement and cracking the roads.  _

_ She started falling, her magic and energy gone. The last thing Raven saw before she blacked out was Robin's worried face among a pile of debris and destruction. _

* * *

The night air was cool, a light breeze ruffling her cloak. Under normal circumstances, it would've been a great night to meditate or just lie down and look at the stars, but the past week hadn't been normal at all. 

Her powers had gone haywire, ranging from making several objects explode without her raging over something to blowing the city to bits. It was worse because she hadn't meant to do the last one- she really hadn't-, and Raven hated that it all seemed like she'd purposefully done it. 

All that had caused the other Titans, excluding Robin, and half of Jump City to distrust and fear her. 

The empath let a tear slip down her face as she lifted one of her inventions up. A silver ring, engraved with power-neutralizing wards and a red gem that served as a lock, glinted in the moonlight. She'd toiled over it day and night, and so far, she'd only used it for physical training with Robin. Thus, the leader knew she had it, and it was imperative that he didn't find out what she was going to do. After all, he was the one who pressed his finger to the gem and removed it, Raven mused, because she'd designed it so it'd be impossible to remove it herself.

With a mournful sigh, she put the ring on and waited as her powers crackled and faded. Once they had fully gone, the empath took off her cloak, laying it gently on the roof and taking a deep breath. The empath was vaguely aware of the rooftop door opening, and she fervently hoped it wasn't who she thought it was.

“Raven? What are you doing up this late?” A voice came from behind, and she groaned. It had to be Robin. She couldn’t dismiss him as easily as she could the others; he genuinely cared for her and would never settle for her usual reply of “It’s nothing”. Even worse, he was the one and only person who knew about her ring.

Finding nothing she could possibly say to him that would make him leave, Raven turned around and smiled sadly. “Goodbye, Robin,” she whispered. Then she took a step back and let herself fall to her inevitable doom.

Robin froze as Raven fell backward, a melancholy smile on her face. The leader didn’t know when he started moving, but suddenly his feet were pounding against the concrete roof and he jumped after her. 

Pulling out two grappling hooks, he shot one towards the falling empath and the other at the roof. Once the first one had wrapped around Raven, stopping her from falling any further, and the other had latched onto the roof, Robin hauled her into his arms before pulling both of them to the safety of the roof. 

She merely sat there, defeated, while he touched the gem of her ring and grabbed it from her when it unlocked. The leader tucked it in his utility belt, making a mental note to never let her near it unless he was sure she was completely stable.

“Raven, what were you  _ thinking _ ?!” Robin hissed. “You could’ve died with that stunt you pulled!”

“That was my intention,” Raven mumbled, shamefully burying her face in her hands.

The leader immediately sensed how sincere that statement was; she really  _ had _ meant to kill herself, and to comfort her, he swept her into a hug. “Shh… tell me what’s wrong, Rae.”

She stepped out of his embrace, turning her back to him. “I-it’s nothing, really… you shouldn't be concerning yourself with this…”

Robin placed his hand on her shoulder, ending her attempt to walk away, and Raven turned back. “It isn’t ‘nothing’ if it made you want to jump from the roof of a fifteen-story tower. You can tell me.”

“Well, I-um… the others… after Cinderblock, they’ve been avoiding me. You’re the only who one who’ll even look at me ever since then…” The empath started crying, Robin lovingly petting her head.

“Come on, that can’t be all of it. What else? I need to know, so I can help you and fix your situation.” She gazed up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

“Um… you know how I kind of… sort of… maybe destroyed half of Jump City along with Cinderblock three days ago? And the next day, you said I had mail? This is that mail.” 

A letter cloaked in her signature dark magic floated into Robin’s hands; at the sight of it, Raven wept into his shoulder, her sadness renewed. That already made the leader want to beat up whoever had written it- nobody hurt his empath, physically or emotionally, and got away with it. But as he read, whoever the author of said letter was (and everyone who signed it) immediately moved to the top of his enemy list- surprisingly, even higher than Slade.

_ _

_ Hey Raven, _

_ Nice job destroying Cinderblock- oh, and half our city too. Don’t think we’ve forgotten! Seriously, it’s like you’re trying to destroy the city rather than save it, just like the demon you are. Oh yes, we found out that the little hellspawn Trigon came to Earth because of you.  _

_ All this stuff about you being his precious daughter.  _

_ Just because you restored our city that day doesn’t mean our faith in you was restored. You toss our cars, our belongings around like toys. Do you even know how much those cost? At this point, you're no better than Slade! You're the most destructive Titan; you destroy more of the city than you help save. What kind of hero does that? Raven, there's nothing else to say except that you're a total disgrace to the Titans and everything they stand for.  _

_ ~The citizens of Jump City _

Robin's fury peaked and he crumpled up the paper, smashing it with his fists. Then the leader forced himself to calm down; if anything, he calmed himself to comfort Raven, still silently crying. 

“Raven,” he said comfortingly, lifting her head with his hand. “Do you know what I think of that letter?” 

The empath met his gaze and shook her head, her eyes wide with fear. “You… you agree with what they said?” There was a sinking feeling in her stomach as she mulled over what he would say.

Robin held his hands up. “On the contrary, my dear Raven.” The leader clasped two birdarangs together, forming a sword, and he neatly sliced the letter into shreds.

“I think it's bullshit.”

* * *

Eventually, Raven stopped crying, taking to sitting down beside Robin and snuggling into his side. The leader’s left arm was curled protectively around her waist, and her head was on his shoulder. Their legs dangled off the very edge that she'd attempted to jump from, the moon shining brightly. 

“Raven, I know there's something you're not telling me,” Robin said. “One incident, no matter how severe it is, wouldn't cause you to break like this. How long has this been going?”

Raven only looked away, but after a few pokes- both mental and physical- from the leader, she gave up trying to hide it. “Ever since I joined the Titans, people have been insulting me about my powers. It got worse after we started fighting crime regularly. The insults only got nastier after I defeated Trigon.”

“But I started the Titans  _ years _ ago. Why didn't you think to tell me, or the others?”

She looked down, her voice barely audible. “I didn't want to concern you, and it only hurt for a little bit anyway. But it’s hard to forget what they said. It kind of floats around my mind, distant but always there. The memory of their derision stings even now, and every time we fight crime, as soon as I'm away from everyone, they ridicule me and my powers. It's always the same group, and they don't dare do it if any of the others are within earshot, so…” 

“I wouldn't have minded helping you cope, and neither would the others. You should've told us.”

“I-I'm sorry…” The empath grew silent, her amethyst eyes wet from unshed tears. Robin sighed, letting silence flow around them, and drew her into an awkward side hug. Raven shifted, but allowed his arms to encompass her small form. 

While the leader didn't want to let go, he knew that she, like him, needed her space, so he reluctantly released his grip after what seemed like mere seconds- though it had been much longer.

“You know, Rae,” Robin murmured, breaking the silence between them, “I thought what you did with Cinderblock was pretty cool.”

Raven flinched, unwelcome memories flooding her mind, but she allowed herself to relax in his presence. “...Really?”

“Yeah. Not a lot of people- nobody actually- can do what you did.” 

The sorceress looked out at the starry landscape, their warm glow calming her, before bowing her head again. “That doesn't change the fact that I destroyed half of what I swore to protect…”

“And you're only beating yourself up now? Raven, how many times have we destroyed something to get criminals in jail?” Raven stayed silent, her face emotionless, though the leader could sense her sadness over their bond.

“Come on, Rae. Remember when Cyborg’s car was stolen? And how, before that, we fought Overload? How much of that electronics store did we wreck?”

At that, her sorrowful stupor was broken, a thin smile gracing her lips. “A lot. And that day we fought Control Freak at the movie shop?”

Robin chuckled, his hand unconsciously grabbing hers and holding it. “The whole thing, gone. Look, Rae, my point is that you don't need to feel bad about this. Cinderblock would've caused way more damage than you did if we hadn't stopped him. The citizens are just too stupid to realize that.”

Raven raised an eyebrow at him as she glanced down at their entwined hands. “And you had to hold my hand hostage to tell me that?”

“I- wait, when did I-” The leader stammered for a while before he regained his composure, though he still didn't let go. “Never mind that! I'll talk to the others later, ensure them they have nothing to be afraid of. Alright?”

The empath nodded, then yawned, her eyes closing. “I'll miss the silence…”

“I know.” The leader looked up at the sky, noting the position of the moon. “It's late. You should go get some sleep.” 

Raven slipped into her cloak and got up, casting a portal in front of her. “Goodnight then, Robin.” She disappeared into it, and as Robin walked towards the tower’s roof door, she mentally sent him three last words. 

_ And thank you. _


End file.
